CBI director's links with Moin Qureshi crop-up: Is it trouble in making for 10, Janpath?

The CBI director Ranjit Sinha is under the scanner after reports that Kanpur-based meat exporter Moin Akhtar Qureshi has close links with him and visited Sinha's residence at least 90 times in the last 15 months.

This came to light from Sinha's visitor diary, which has been submitted in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court by Centre for Public Interest Litigation. The diary has names of other accused too.

It is believed that the two are family friends as Qureshi's wife Nasreen is also a frequent visitor to 2, Janpath, Sinha's official residence.

If turn out to be true, the development could lead the CBI director in deep trouble.

Who is Moin Akhtar Qureshi?

Alleged Hawala operator and Kanpur-based meat exporter Moin Akhtar Qureshi hogged into limelight after continous raids and survey by the IT department. The investigation also exposed his links with Cabinet Ministers and a political leader believed to be very close to 10 Janpath.

According to sources, the IT department seized over Rs 6 crores in cash and 20 lockers in the name of Qureshi's employees during its first raid.

Qureshi, a Doon school alumnus and president of its old boys' society, has seen phenomenal growth in his wealth in the last decade. He has started 25 companies since 1993, with AMQ Agro, which exports animal gut, being the flagship firm. Records with the Registrar of Companies show that seven of his companies deal in real estate and have non-descript activities with a low paid-up capital base.

Reports suggest that Qureshi has deflated his actual wealth on paper as his bank account transactions in London and Dubai are not concomitant with his disclosed income.

Qureshi's meteoric rise during UPA's tenure

Qureshi's old friend said that he was financially well off earlier but became seriously rich only recently. He has suddenly acquired political clout in the past 8-10 years. His rise comes during tenure of a former CBI director, who investigated several sensitive cases, including the 2G scam and Coalgate.

According to reports, former CBI director AP Singh had introduced Qureshi to the elite social circles of New Delhi. Singh also rented out his house (C-134, Defence Colony), registered in his mother's name to Moin Qureshi for office space. It is reported that bribe money, which the former CBI director received from a corporate named in 2G case, is allegedly routed by Qureshi via Dubai-London route.

The 500 hours phone records of Qureshi tracked by IT department in December 2012, shows his links with former CBI chief AP Singh.

The IT department placed Qureshi's phone under surveillance following Pakistani Sufi singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's detention and interrogation. Khan was in India to sing at the wedding of Qureshi's daughter.When the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) detained Pakistani sufi singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at the Delhi airport in February 2011. He was detained for not disclosing $124,000 that he was allegedly taking out of India, it then set off a chain of events.

Qureshi's links to Congress

The investigation also exposed his links with Cabinet Ministers and a political leader believed to be very close to 10 Janpath.

Even in the run up the Lok Sabha polls, BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi, now the Prime Minister, raised the case at an election rally in Akbarpur on April 18 saying Qureshi has close links with 10, Janpath, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's residence, besides other Congress leaders.

Modi had questioned, "Shouldn't the truth come out?" This piece of information raises serious questions on these meetings between a controversial businessman and the head of the country's top investigating agency.

Moreover, Sinha's visitor diary also shows that Devendra Darda was one of the frequent visitors CBI chief's official residence in Lutyen's Delhi. Devendra is the son of Congress MP from Yavatmal, Vijay Darda, also an accused in coal scam along with his brother Rajendra Darda.

The kind of relations Qureshi shared with top bureaucrats like Ranjit Sinha and others, shows that he must have used the top bureaucrats to expand his business empire and might have acted as mediator in many deals relating to 2G case, coalgate etc. In the light of the allegation of the meat exporter's link with Congress leadership, there is clear case of investigation to find if the top leaders of the ruling party during UPA rule were behind the growth of his empire?